Not-So Damsels-In-Distress
by SilverHuntresses
Summary: Reyna Ramirez-Arellano feels like something is not right in her relationship with her mortal boyfriend. She wasn't girly-girl, she wasn't a damsel in distress but that's alright... right? Belate birthday present to my friend Clouds!


Reyna Ramirez-Arellano had a problem.

But she didn't know who to turn to for help!

She needed to take a deep breath and relax. It was probably that she was making a big deal out of it. Alright, so what was the problem again? Oh, Reyna was worried about Dylan, her... boyfriend. Poor girl still had troubles believing she had a boyfriend, after years and years of one-sided loves. She liked Dylan, very much.

Why was she worried about Dylan? Oh, right... She was worried because she disappeared in the middle of their date to fight a monster that had appeared and was about to harass some poor girls. Technically, she didn't disappear but she interrupted the date to jump to action upon seeing the girls frightening. That had left the girls very grateful and a very impressed Dylan.

She had lied through her teeth and said that someone was harassing the girls- not a lie, technically -, so she decided to help- again, not technically a lie. She did lie when she said the harasser ran away after she took him by surprise- it technically had turned into golden dust thanks to her golden Imperial sword. Dylan ended up with a smug smile all afternoon, calling her a '_superheroine_'.

Reyna hadn't mind at the time- she had blushed firetruck red and smiled softly -, but it was when she was back in the safety of Camp Jupiter that noticed something very important: Dylan was mortal. He couldn't see the monsters.

He was in constant danger. There laid the real problem she couldn't fix yet.

She had discarded some solutions, like following him around every single day. She was a Praetor, she couldn't just drop her job and follow him everywhere. Plus, he would eventually notice and wouldn't like it, the male ego making an appearance saying he '_can look after himself_'. Reyna figured they would argue about it- cause technically he wouldn't be able to '_see the threat_' -and he would end up duping her for clingy and possessive.

She was not some clingy girlfriend who needed a man to exist. She could exist very well within her own rights! She decided to tackle the problem as a girl who had a friend who could be in imminent danger without knowing it- leaving aside that he can't see the danger, of course.

That was Reyna's overworking mind. Not that something like those before-mentioned scenarios would happen. Of course, she didn't know that.

Another solution was talking to him about it. Telling him to be careful was nothing weird but, what would be is the explaining of '_you can't see the monsters_'. That would definitely make her sound crazy and he would surely dump her. So was the option of kidnapping him and keep him in Camp Jupiter- _a very last resource_, she promised herself.

Which lead to her current predicament.

Her only option now was to observe and wait.

* * *

Due to the fact that it was exam season for Dylan, Reyna didn't see or heard from him for quite a while.

But, when she did see him again, she noticed there was a slight change in him.

She couldn't quite put her finger on it. He was as nice as always, as smiley as always and as helpful as always. In other words, he was his perfect self. However, the nagging sensation that something was different had Reyna on high alert. And apparently, that was distracting her.

"Reyna, everything alright?" Dylan asked her, pulling her out of her alert state.

"Yeah, everything's, um... alright." She replied, not very convinced. And Dylan noticed.

"You seem distracted, you sure?" He continued, looking worried. Reyna smiled at him, patting his hand gently.

"I am not, I promise." She assured him and Dylan dropped the subject. They enjoyed a nice lunch in a restaurant, talking about nonsense stuff and when it was parting time, it was when things got weird.

She hadn't heard him coming. She hadn't even felt it coming. And by Dylan's face, he didn't either. But they were being stopped by point-gun by two strangers.

"Money and jewelry, now!" Reyna frowned but noticed they weren't monsters. Just common masked thieves that would make any kid of Mercury either laugh at their inexperience or shake their head in shame and embarrassment. Not even a bit intimidated, Reyna glared at them.

"I don't have any." Pats on the back for insisting on paying her half of the lunch, Reyna was '_broke_' at that moment. And she didn't wear jewelry, so it was useless. One of the thieves apparently didn't like that and just took a step closer to her. Evidently, the intention was to intimidate her but they hadn't met Reyna Ramirez-Arellano. She could face a hoard of monsters, one thief was nothing.

However, Reyna had forgotten Dylan.

He stepped in between her and the thief to it as a sign of a fight. The first thief threw a punch at him, punch that Dylan managed to avoid before getting hit. Seconds later, Dylan replied with his own punch, knocking down the thief immediately onto the floor to continue the fight there. The second thief saw its partner on the fight and decided to help. But that thief had forgotten one rule.

Never to underestimate anyone.

Reyna almost immediately knocked out cold the second one with a very direct punch to the face. She saw the thief stumble but immediately fought back, despite what it seemed to be a broken nose that was bleeding out of control. It took less than a minute for Reyna to actually knock out cold the second thief before helping Dylan.

Dylan was managing the fight pretty well, but his thief was desperate and searching for the falling gun. Reyna noticed that Dylan was not aware of this and not only kicked the gun away from range but delivered the knock out cold punch that left the thief unconscious.

"Reyna, you alright?" Dylan repeated his earlier question, especially when seeing Reyna's hand covered in blood. Reyna noticed he was panicking because he thought it was hers, so she immediately reassured him, smiling softly.

"Not my blood and I'm alright..." She wiped as much as she could of the blood to prove her point, making Dylan release a relieved sigh. "Not how I wanted to end today, though..."

"Yeah, I get what you mean..." Dylan admitted, chuckling. It was evident that Dylan's adrenaline was losing effect so Reyna decided to take him home before going back to camp. "I'm glad..."

"What you're glad about?" She looked at him, not understanding.

"I'm glad to know I can defend you myself..." That caught Reyna unguarded and she stared at him. "I know you can defend yourself and that's great but... I don't want you to depend on yourself all the time... I want you to know I'm also there to fight for you..." Reyna's blush was of epic proportions as she had never been told such a thing.

So, she did the first thing that popped into her head...

* * *

"So, let me get this straight..." Rachel raised her hand in the middle of the story while Reyna sipped her drink. "You kissed him for the first time after you defended him after he defended you from two low-live thieves?"

"You make it sound as if I was paying him or something..." Reyna grumbled, blushing a bit. Rachel simply smirked.

"Oh, honey! You were paying him alright!" The Host of the Oracle of Delphi giggled at the Roman Praetor who kept blushing and pushed her lightly. "So, when are you seeing him again?"

This time, Rachel laughed hard upon seeing Reyna's firetruck's red face.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city.

_"Hello?"_

"Evan? It's Dylan."

_"Hello, D! How was your date? Sorry, Holly and I couldn't go do our part, we were stuck into some family meeting-"_

"What do you mean you couldn't go?"

_"Yeah, it was in the last minute and since you asked us not to call you while on the date..."_

"So... are you telling me that you didn't wear ski masks and wielded a fake gun at me and Reyna yesterday after lunch and that Reyna didn't break Holly's nose with a punch nor knock you out cold...?"

_"Dylan, what are you talking about? Holly doesn't have her nose broke... And even if I wouldn't brag about it, I definitely wasn't knocked out by a girl!"_

"Oh dear... we were actually held at point-gun..."

_"So, what you planned to happen fakely... did happen?! You have to tell me that story!"_


End file.
